Ganondorf's Son
by C. Bracken
Summary: Seven years after the loss, the boy dreams of the fall. The time of the legend has come, but the hero is gone, and the princess remains in exile. All that remains is the mistake, and the consequences.
1. The Dark Prince

Introduction: If...

We all know the story of Link, the young Hyrulian that drew the legendary Master Sword and became the Hero of Time. The boy that defeated Ganondorf. It could have gone very differently though, as all great stories can. If Link had joined Ganondorf that night, when the princess Zelda fled her kingdom, how might it have played out?

Some people say there are infinate alternate universes where events that are historical fact for us, never happened. If that is true, there must be a universe where Link joined Ganondorf. This is the story of that universe.

Chapter 1: The Dark Prince

The sound of steel colliding with steel echoed through the ceilingless stone room, as two figures fought in the falling rain. One figure was larger than the other, not only in girth but also in height. He wore the leather and iron armor of the Gerudo and carried a large, broad sword. The other figure was about a foot shorter, though still just over average height for his age. He was clad in a black tunic and cap over an off-white body suit with minimal armor, including a pair of silver gauntlets. To make up for this, he carried a shield bearing the crest of the Kingdom of Hyrule (a golden six-point star in the eye of a black eagle with spread wings on a silver field) in addition to a finely crafted sword. The larger figure was pushing back the smaller figure back. The smaller continued to dodge and parry, and watched for an opening, which came when the larger figure brought his sword around in a horizon sweep from left to right in a decapitating arc. The smaller figure threw himself down and hit the stones with his right shoulder and went into a roll. As soon as he was past the larger figure he leapt up and stabbed at the larger figure's back, but the larger figure was expecting it and parried the blow to the side with a second, smaller sword. This caught the smaller figure off guard and a second later he was staring down the blade of a large sword into the grinning face of Ganondorf.

The two stood there, stock still in the falling rain. Finally, Ganondorf sheathed his swords and began to walk away. The other figure sheathed his own blade and followed Ganondorf across the slick stones of the chamber, and into the next room where they removed their armor and weapons, though Ganondorf kept the smaller sword with him, and toweled off, then left the room.

"Come with me." said Ganondorf to the other person, who followed him into the Throne Room. The Throne of the King of Hyrule stood on a raised section of floor so you had to climb a short flight of stairs to reach it. It was a large throne, made of cast iron and padded with leather the color of dried blood. It was adorned with dark rubies and silver studs, and the armrests ended in iron skulls. Another cast iron skull sat atop the Throne, spiked and fanged, like no creature in the land of Hyrule possessed. It's eyes were rubies, but these were bright and lit as if they had an inner fire. If you stared into those eyes long enough, it was said, they'd drive you mad. Indeed, a mere glance would give men of weak mettle headaches that would last for hours. The whole thing was meant to intimidate, and it did it well. Just to the right and slightly behind the Throne of the King rested the Throne of the Queen. It was just as horrific as the King's Throne, only smaller.

The Throne Room itself was more of a long hall. A carpet the color of dried blood reached from the large mahogany doors to the Thrones, and a large, ornate, gold ring was painted on the floor just before the steps to the Thrones. This was where those summoned before the King knelt to await his words. The whole hall was lit by torches set in iron holders imbedded high in the walls, and the only windows were made of black and dark red stained glass. As with the Thrones, the whole effect was intimidation, and as with the Thrones, it was done well. Ganondorf seated himself in his Throne and the other figure knelt in the circle.

"Rise." said Ganondorf, and the figure did as he was bid. "You have been my most loyal and useful subject for the past seven years. In that time, you have led my army to destroy Kakariko Village, subjugate the Gorons and Zora, slain the last of the Sheikahs, and of course, claimed the Master Sword for me." He indicated the sword he had carried out of the other room. He continued. "In return, I have taught you politics, economics, mathematics, reading and writing, and fighting. I have had you schooled in riding, husbandry, archery, and explosives. I have taken you under my wing and made you my son. Do you have any regrets?"

The figure in the circle shook his head.

"No father, no regrets. You taught me that."

"Good. I have come to a decision. Go get your sister, this is of the utmost importance to the both of you."

"Yes father." Ganondorf's son turned and strode silently from the room, and headed for the east wing of Ganondorf's Castle. He walked up to a door with carvings of the Royal Crest on the forehead of a Gerudo woman on it and knocked.

"What?" came the reply in the harsh voice of a young woman.

"Father wants us." replied the young man. After several moments the door opened to a girl about the same height as the young man wearing the traditional garb of a royal Gerudo warrior and a look that shot pure venom at her brother. His face remained impassive as he turned and headed back the way he had come. She hesitated a moment, then shut her door and followed.

"What does he want?" she asked vehemently as they walked.

"I don't know Ketume, but I think he's decided on his heir." came his quiet reply. The two continued on in silence for a while, until Ketume broke it.

"I don't see why it's taken him so long to announce it. We both know it will be me. After all, I'm of his own flesh and blood. _You're_ just some punk he picked up seven years ago." She said arrogantly.

"That may be true, _sister_, but we both know he favors me. I'm the one that he trusts to quells the uprisings, and who ads to his empire."

"Perhaps he sends you to do those menial tasks because he doesn't care whether or not you come back. I mean, you can't even do magic." said Ketume, lighting a tapestry on fire with a simple touch as they passed it, to demonstrate. "_Brother_." she added, mockingly.

"I can use Din's Fire."

"Anyone can cast Din's Fire with that little rock of yours. _I_ can cast spells without _objects_." She spat the last word.

"But you can't fight without your magic."

"Yes I can."

"Not as well as me." he replied with an arrogant little smirk, as they approached the mahogany doors.

"I'll die before you become king." hissed Ketume in a final insult as her brother opened the doors. The two enter the circle and knelt.

"Rise." They stood. "I'm sure you've guessed why I've summoned you here. I have come to a decision. Ketume,"

Ketume shot her brother a look of superiority.

"You lose. My son shall ascend to the Throne upon my death." Both of Ganondorf's children remained silent and impassive.

"You are dismissed."

Neither said anything until they were outside the doors of the Throne Room, when the two stopped and looked at each other. A cruel grin spread across the son's face.

"I'll send flowers." said Link, then he turned and walked away.


	2. Corruption

Chapter Two: Corruption

Night was falling fast as a small boy rushed towards the gates to the Hyrule Castle Market. As he approached it, a wolfos howled somewhere in the distance, signaling the end of dusk and the onset of night. The boy continued to run towards the drawbridge that would be closing any moment, decapitating a pair of Stalchildren without breaking stride. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized the drawbridge should be closing by now. Another pair of Stalchildren rose up in front of him. He chopped off the right arm of the closer one, and put his sword through the skull of the other. The Stalchild collapsed, but the other remained intact, sans it's right arm. A swift kick to the chest solved the problem and he hurried on. Rain began to fall, lightly at first, but soon escalating into a storm. Black, billowing storm clouds began to roll in, and lightning began to sizzle through the air, and the boy ran on. Just as the boy set foot on the drawbridge, a white horse carrying two figures burst out the gates and rushed past him. One figure was a white-haired woman in armor that didn't really cover too much, and the other, sitting in front of the woman, was a young girl that peered out from under the woman's arm. As the horse drew further away, the girl tossed something back at he boy who stood at the end of the drawbridge watching them go. 

A moment later the princess Zelda was gone, and Link was vaguely aware of a large seated atop an armored black stallion. Ganondorf looked down upon the small boy in the falling rain. 

"I've seen you before," he said, in a dark, commanding voice. "With the princess. You were looking at me through a window in the palace garden."

The rain continued to fall around the man and the boy as they stood in silence, their eyes locked. Link spoke.

"So?"

Ganondorf spoke cruelly. "I know what you've been doing boy. And I know Zelda told you to do it."

"Zelda didn't tell me to do anything." Link lied.

"Do you think I got where I am today by being stupid? I have my sources, and I know _exactly _what she said to you. I also know you did it. I also know about the green-haired girl."

Link flinched at the mention of Saria, as memories of Kokiri girl came unbidden to his mind. Ganondorf continued.

"You possess the spiritual stones. I want them. There are two ways the next part of our little conversation can go. You can either give them to me, or I can take them."

Link wordlessly raised his sword, ready to defend the stones, but Ganondorf just laughed. 

"There isn't a man in this world that would dare to fight me without half a dozen others armed to the hilt backing him, and here a cold, wet and tired little _boy _armed with a wooden shield and a sword I could break between my thumb and forefinger is fighting back. You have courage boy. There's no doubt about that. And potential. A pity that you waste it so."

Ganondorf waved one hand and in a flurry of purple energy, Link was disarmed and lying on his back in mud. Ganondorf dismounted and walked towards Link, while he scrambled to find his sword. Ganondorf was preparing another spell. Link's hand closed on something as his mind frantically tried to maintain control over his body. Was it the sword? No, shield. He raised it just in time to block the spell, but it caused the shield to burst into dark purple flames. Link hurled the flaming hunk of deku wood at Ganondorf, but he just blasted it out of the air. Link resumed his frantic search for his sword, and Ganondorf cackled wickedly at Link's distress while summoning another energy ball. After what seemed an eternity, Link's groping hand touched the cold steel of the sword blade. Unfortunately, the hilt was no attached. Ganondorf hurled the energy ball, and Link swung the sword blade desperately, cutting his hand on the sharp edges as the magic was deflected. 

Link struggled to his feet, holding the broken weapon in his bloody hand, ready to strike. Ganondorf moved closer, smiling cruelly the whole time as he picked up Link by his tunic's collar and lifted him to eye level, and laughed vilely when the boy swung the blade and dropped it when it struck Ganondorf's gauntlet, causing it to vibrate and cut even deeper into Link's hand.

Still grinning, Ganondorf hurled Link into the wall that surrounded the town. There was the crunch of bones hitting stone, and Link was vaguely aware that his arm was broken as he plunged into the brackish water of the moat at the base of the wall. As he sank to the bottom, something brushed against his good hand, and he grabbed it instinctively, just before an arm plunged into the water from the world of the surface, and jerked Link back into that world roughly. Now Link dangled from the large hand that was closed around his throat; one arm hanging limp and useless at his side, the other still clutching something Link couldn't see. It was becoming harder to breathe, and Link's vision began to cloud with blotches of red. He raised his hand to throw whatever it held at the grinning face before him, prepared to fight to the end, when Ganondorf grabbed his wrist and laughed.

"This is the best the princess can spare for her champion? A little ocarina? Ha! An yet you still fight for her." Ganondorf dropped Link to the cobblestones, bruising his leg. "You are nothing to her. You realize that? Just a plaything, something to amuse her. Someone to send off to do silly and dangerous things, and when you're in trouble, when you _really_ need help, she gives you a little ocarina and runs off. You are nothing but her pawn now."

Link tried to think, but it was all happening to fast and his head was throbbing with pain that was flooding to it form all over his body. Some, no, most of what Ganondorf said made sense. Zelda _had_ sent him to do some rather dangerous things, and now she had runaway without even bothering to take the things he had collected, at extreme personal risk, for her. But, she, she had seemed so _sincere_ in the palace gardens. Was that all an act? Something she had done so many times to others in his position so she could laugh at their foolishness and gullibility later, that she could fake sincerity almost second nature? Ganondorf continued. 

" I'll make you an offer boy. Give me the spiritual stones, and you'll have power that most men will only ever dream of. Refuse, and the next time we speak will be behind the Black Gates. What will it be boy?"

Link struggled to his feet, fighting not to lose consciousness, and trying to think clearly with little success. One word floated through his mind. PAWN. Link didn't want to be that. Never again would he be a pawn. His expression hardened as he came to a decision and looked up at Ganondorf.

"I won't be a pawn. Not now, not ever. My name is Link, and you have a deal."

***

Minutes later the two stood before the alter in the Temple of Time. Ganondorf carefully placed each spiritual stone in it's place and stepped back while Link watched. There was a moment of silence. Then another. And another followed by yet another as it quickly became apparent that nothing was happening. Ganondorf removed the stones from their place, examined the pits in the alter where they fit, then replaced them. Nothing happened. Ganondorf was getting angry now. He hammered his fist against the doors behind the alter and yelled. 

"Why don't they open?! They're supposed to open! You put the stones in place and the doors open! So why don't they open!?" 

While Ganondorf pounded at the door, Link watched. He was tired, cold, wet, his entire body ached, one arm hung useless at his side, the hand on his other arm was bloody, and for some reason he was still clutching the ocarina it his bloody hand. For the same unknown reason that he still carried it, he now lifted it to his lips and played a song he had never heard before on it, somewhat awkwardly because he only had one hand to do it with, and it was slick with his own blood. As he played, Ganondorf stopped pounding the doors and watched him At the end of the song, the doors swung open silently to reveal the chamber beyond them. Several steps led up to a raised platform on which stood a small pedestal with a finely crafted sword standing in it. Ganondorf grinned and entered the chamber, walked behind the sword, and turned to face Link. 

"The Master Sword." He said, indicating the weapon before him. "With this, I shall be the undisputed King of Hyrule, and eventually the entire world. And for your help in it's acquisition, shall be prince."

It took a moment for this to fully sink in, but when it did Link allowed himself a small grin. He would never be anyone's pawn again.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, came three loud thuds, followed by the words "My lord? My Lord? Prince Link?"

Link sat up in bed as the servant outside his door knocked again. He yawned and groggily rubbed his eyes before replying. 

"Come in."

The servant entered. Link recognized him somewhat. Not so much as to know his name, but he had seen him at least once before, which was quite an accomplishment for a palace servant, considering Ketume's temper. Most servants didn't last 24 hours after meeting Ketume. 

"Good dream sir?" asked the servant, in a voice that said 'please don't have me put to death for waking you.' Link gave a short, emotionless laugh. 

"Old memories. What is it?"

The servant held out a sheet of parchment and said "The King told me to give this to you."

Link took the sheet and read it quickly before looking at the servant again.

"You didn't read this did you?"

The servant looked nervous. "N-no sir. I'm, uh, what's it called, illitergitamate."

"You mean illiterate."

"Yeah, that. Can't read."

Link sighed. He wasn't surprised. He folded the parchment and set It on his bedside table before climbing out of bed and pulling on a shirt. 

"What's your name?" he asked finally. 

"Er, Dowl sir."

"Dowl, meet me in the stables in an hour."

"Sir?"

"I'm to go to Inigo Ranch and collect a horse of my choosing as tribute to my father. You are to accompany me. You may go."

"Yessir." And with that Dowl was gone, and Link was left alone with his thoughts.


	3. Epona's Song

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda in any way shape or form.

Chapter 3: Epona's Song

Malon crept wearily to the straw mat where she slept and sank down onto it, grateful that the day was finally over. She had risen with the sun, and spent the early hours of the morning feeding the cuccos and collecting eggs before milking the cows. That last bit hadn't taken long. The cows never seemed to give much milk anymore, not since her father had gotten thrown out. She wished dearly that she could leave too, but Inigo would never let her get beyond the front gates. She was too valuable. If it weren't for Epona, Malon didn't know what she'd do.

After milking the cows, she'd let the horses out to pasture and filled the oat trough before going inside to cook Inigo's breakfast. He had come down just as she had started, and he'd quickly gone from sleepy to angry as he always did when a meal wasn't ready on time, and she'd gotten a beating for it. Inigo always seemed to find a reason to beat her for the smallest things. The rest of the day had gone in a similar fashion. Malon, going through her daily tasks, while being jeered at by the ranch hands Inigo had hired, which never seemed to do any work. Being late with dinner, and getting another beating before eating a meager meal of her own and letting the horses back into the stables, receiving a friendly little nuzzle from Epona in thanks. The only kind gestures shown to her by anyone on the ranch were from the animals, mostly the horses. And finally, onto her little straw mat in that old empty shed and under her thin little blanket to sleep and awaken to another day of the same.

The next morning found a bruised and tired Malon huddled in the stables. She'd risen late, and Inigo had beaten her again for it. He'd said something about a man of some importance coming to buy a horse today, and he wanted her out of sight while their 'potential client' was at the ranch. She'd been happy to do as he said, for once. She needed the extra sleep. But, as she lay in the straw of Epona's stall, sleep would not come to her. She kept remembering the dream she'd had the previous night. At first, her dreams had been kind to her, and had held no trace of Inigo or anything of the past few years. Instead, she had dreamed of a day years ago, when that boy in green clothes and with the fairy, Fairy Boy, she remembered calling him, had come to the ranch. How Epona had run from him, and how he had chased the horse all around the corral, until he couldn't run any more, and she'd taught him her mother's song. Epona's Song. And it had been just the three of them for a while, herself, Epona, and Fairy Boy. Then Fairy Boy had waved good-bye, and Inigo had come into her dream like an all-encompassing shadow. He kicked at her, and frightened Epona off. Then he'd beat her until she had grown into who she was today, when a ray of green light burst through the shadow that was Inigo, and a young, familiar looking man had stood in his place wearing green clothes and humming Epona's Song. 

He had then offered her a hand and helped her to her feet and… she'd woken up. She'd heard the rumors that Princess Zelda had dreams that predicted the future, could this have been a dream like that? As Malon sat with her back to the wall, and her legs pulled up to her chest, she prayed silently that it was. She sat there for awhile longer before she heard the sounds of the front gates opening, and then the muffled voices of Inigo and someone else through the walls of the stable. They grew louder then quieter as they walked past the stables, and Malon crept towards the large double doors of the stable and pulled them open just enough that she could see out of them. Inigo and two other men were leaning on the fence of the corral, and Inigo was speaking; though Malon couldn't hear what he was saying, and the other men didn't really seem to be listening. 

One of the men looked young. _He can't be much older than me, _thought Malon. _Probably some lord's son or something like that. _The other man was dressed in a servant's garb, no mistaking what he was. Inigo was pointing at various horses and undoubtedly pointing out each one's strong points, even though he knew next to nothing about horses. The other men didn't seem to be listening to him anyway. The younger man was instead just watching the horses run. Malon knew from the way he watched them that he was comparing them in his own mind, the way they moved, and reacted. _Well, at least _this _one knows something about horses. I just hope he doesn't see Epona, _thought Malon. If he did, he'd want her for certain. She was easily the best horse on the ranch; she was faster, smarter, had more stamina, the list went on. The only reason no one had already bought Epona was her wild nature. The kinds of people who could generally afford a horse like Epona wanted their new horse to be tame and complacent before they'd even handed over the rupees for it. But this guy… this guy was the kind of person that would've tamed Volvagia if the dragon hadn't been killed by the head of Ganondorf's invasion forces at Death Mountain. If he saw Epona, he would have her. Malon didn't know how she knew this, but she did. This guy would take the time. Quickly scanning the herd of horses for the red-coated mare, she was relieved to see that Epona was hanging back with the trailing, older and weaker horses as she sometimes did. Malon sighed with relief, then sucked her breath back in before it had barely gotten past her lips. The stranger was pointing at Epona. Inigo shrugged, then shouted at the horse, knowing she wouldn't respond to him any other way than by ignoring him. There was a short conversation between the two, and when they shook hands Malon's heart skipped a beat. _Not Epona…_ she thought, but it was definitely Epona the man had just agreed to buy.

Before she knew what she was doing she had flung the stable doors open and was rushing at the men. She knew Inigo would give her the beating of a lifetime for this, but she didn't care. She couldn't loose Epona. 

"NO!" screamed Malon, throwing herself to her knees before the stranger. "Please don't take Epona! She's all I've got left!" she sobbed.

"Get away from the prince you stupid wench!" shouted Inigo, grabbing her shoulders and roughly pulling her away from the stranger, now identified as the prince.

"I apologize my lord, she is a bit disturbed. She is the daughter of the former owner of the ranch. He died in an unfortunate accident a few years back, and I've let her stay here as a favor to the old man, rest his soul. He was a dear friend of mine." Inigo continued. 

"LAIR!" screamed Malon. "You got my father drunk and tricked him into selling you the ranch for next to nothing! Then you threw him out because you hated him!"

"Silence girl!" shouted Inigo, throwing her to the ground, then finding himself staring down twenty-six inches of steel, and decided it was in his best interest to be nice to Malon for the time being. Malon, in the meantime, was stunned. She hadn't even heard the scrape of steel being drawn, and the sword's tip was barely even half an inch away from Inigo's throat, if that. The prince sheathed his sword, again without even the sound of steel scraping on steel, and offered her a hand. She hesitated for a moment, then took it and he pulled her up almost effortlessly. 

"Dowl," he said, "take this guy back to the farmhouse and don't let him leave until I tell you he can."

The servant snapped to attention. "Yessir." He said, then hurried to lead Inigo back to the farmhouse. The prince then turned back to Malon, and pulling a leather pouch from his belt, poured out a handful of gold rupees and pressed them into Malon's hands. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm taking that horse. Consider that payment."

He indicated the rupees. Malon looked at the gold-hued gems in her hands. There had to be at least seven hundred rupees in her hands. She threw them in his face.

"No sale. I don't care who you are, you can't have Epona." She said.

"Why not?"

"Because…" she scrambled through her mind for a suitable reason. "Because she already belongs to someone else." _He has to accept that. If she already belongs to someone else, he just can't have her. But then, what if he asks…_

"Who?"

_Crap. Now what smarty? I need someone he'll never meet, but who? Well, I guess there's always-_

"Fairy Boy." She said quietly, suddenly embarrassed. The prince just smiled to himself and turned to the horses, then pulled out a small blue ocarina, and brought it to his lips. And then he played. Malon's dream flooded back to her. Fairy Boy, Epona's Song, the man in green clothes, the grown up Fairy Boy. Epona trotted over to the fence and nuzzled his neck in a friendly fashion, and Malon just stood there in shock.

"Fairy Boy?" she said, even quieter than before. The prince smiled.

"The name's Link. It's nice to see you again Malon."

"You're the prince?" she asked, overcoming the initial shock. He just nodded. "But I thought the royal family were all gerudos. And what happened to your fairy?"

"All but one of the royal family are gerudos." He looked uncomfortable for a moment. "And I'd rather not talk about my fairy." He added. "What about you?" he said, changing the subject. "Is what you said about Inigo true?"

She nodded. "But I'd rather not talk about that right now either." She said, leaning on the fence. There was a long awkward moment of silence before Link spoke again. 

"I'm taking Epona, Malon." He said quietly.

She just nodded sullenly. "I knew you would. I don't know how, but I always knew she was meant to be yours. It's just, just… she's all I've got left, you know? My mom died when I was really young, and Inigo kicked dad off the ranch with nothing but the clothes on his back, and knowing him he's probably dead too." She stared out at the horses again. "Forget I said anything. Take her. She's yours. I'll manage, somehow."

Link watched her in silence for a while. It was nearly noon now, and the sun was high in the sky. Link sighed to himself. It was hard to see Malon like this, especially knowing what she had been like the last time he'd seen her. Especially knowing he was about to take her one source of comfort on this whole damn ranch. She was one of the only friends he'd ever really had, and it was hard to think that there was nothing he could do for her. _Hey, wait a second._ He thought, _I'm the prince, and heir to the throne. I can do as I damn well please, there has to be something I can do for her. Say…_

"You know, I think I'm kind of tired from the trip today. Does the farmhouse have any guest rooms?"

Malon looked up at him, a little puzzled. _What's he mean he's tired? It hardly takes any time to come here from the castle. I should know. Inigo makes me drag any milk the cows give up there, and it only takes a few hours. And that's including the trip back, and I have to carry the crate with me._

"Yeah, two."

"And where do you sleep?"

Malon hesitated before replying. _What's he up to?_

"In that shed over there." She answered after a moment, indicating the old building.

"Take a guest room tonight. My servant will use the other one, and I doubt I'll be sleeping tonight."

__

What the hell is he up to?

"Well, alright, I guess. But, why?"

Link smiled to himself. "I want you to be well rested for tomorrow. I have a feeling something big is in your future." He said, as he walked off back towards the farmhouse. Malon was still a bit confused, but she had a good feeling about this for some reason. 

***

As the day wore on Malon didn't see much of Link, whom was talking with Inigo and wouldn't let her into the farmhouse for some reason. By the time she came in to make dinner, they were done, and neither would tell her what they'd been discussing. Link went outside as soon as he was finished eating, and after dinner when Malon went to do the dishes, Dowl wouldn't let her. He said he'd never gone so long without being given a menial task to perform, and it was a bit unnerving for him. So, instead Malon had gone outside to find Link.

When she found him, he was putting Epona through her paces in the corral. She was responsive and attentive, and reacting far faster than Malon had ever seen her react before. Link obviously knew his way around a horse. Night fell quickly and Malon retired to the guestroom. 

__

How ironic. She thought to herself. _I'm the one that lives here, and _he's _lending me a room. _

She didn't bother to undress beyond taking off her boots and scarf. There was no point; she didn't own any other clothes. Looking out the window, she saw Link still riding Epona under the starlight. She sighed to herself, and continued to watch the two move together as if they were one being. The way they reacted to one another was incredible. If there had ever been any doubt in Malon's mind that Epona was meant to be Link's horse, it was gone now. After awhile longer, she went to sleep.

***

When Malon awoke it was still dark, and someone was standing over her.

"Link?" she muttered, still a bit tired.

The figure seemed surprised at the sound of Malon's voice, and stepped back into the moonlight pouring into the room through the window. The figure was that of a woman in a black, form-fitting body suit, holding a wickedly curved knife. The figure's confusion only lasted for a moment though, and she soon advanced on Malon again, holding the knife over her head. 

Malon didn't bother with screaming. Instead, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and jumped out of it just in time to avoid the knife's plunge. A tacky coat of arms hung on the wall nearest her, and she pulled down one of the swords from it, and held the far too heavy weapon in front of her in a vain attempt at defense. The other woman remained silent as she moved in and deftly avoided Malon's useless swings of the sword, knocking the cumbersome weapon from the smaller girl's hands. The black clad woman stabbed at Malon's side, and she managed to avoid the blow more by luck than anything else, and ducked another attack, then dived under the woman's outstretched arm. She came up to her feet just in time to dodge another attack, and the other woman was obviously getting annoyed. As she dodged another swing of the knife, Malon thought she heard footsteps running up the stairs. Apparently the other woman heard it too, because she hesitated halfway through her next strike. As the footsteps grew closer, the woman took one last swing at Malon, then sheathed the knife so she could draw a sword that Malon hadn't noticed that was slung across her back until just that moment. The woman squared herself with the door, and leaped in a vertical slash that would have finished the fight before it began if anyone had been standing in the doorway when it opened. 

Instead, as the woman looked up, she received a kick to the face, followed by a one-two punch to the solar plexus, and an elbow blow to the chin, ending with a leg sweep that left the woman lying flat on the floor in the hallway. Link stood over her. He wasn't even breathing hard as Malon stepped into the hallway.

"Who was that?" she asked. Link shrugged.

"No one in particular. Just some gerudo assassin. It seems my sister is still upset with me."

"Your _sister?_"

"Yeah. As near as I can tell, it's somewhat of a tradition among my family. You shouldn't worry though."

It took a minute for that to sink in.

"Wait, what?"


	4. Saria

Disclaimer: Is this really still necessary? If you answered yes, press the button that takes you back to the previous chapter and read the disclaimer there.

Chapter 4: Saria

As he rode, Link pulled the gem stone he had most recently acquired out of his tunic. For a moment he wondered if accepting the sapphire had been the best of ideas. It wasn't that he didn't like princess Ruto or anything, but the prospect of marrying a fish girl wasn't especially attractive to him. Besides, from what he knew about how fish reproduced he wasn't entirely sure it would work out. _Maybe I should have just sneaked in at night and stolen the stupid thing while she was asleep, or something, _he thought to himself. _Maybe if I return it when princess Zelda is finished with it, she won't make me go through with marrying her._

"Link! Slow down! I can't fly fast enough to keep up!" screamed a tiny, breezy voice from behind him. Link sighed, and brought Epona to a gentle trot, allowing Navi to catch up. He thought back to when the Great Deku Tree had first assigned her to be his fairy. He'd been so excited, so grateful, so… happy. Now he sometimes wished she would go away. All those years of being without a fairy had taught him to value his privacy, and with Navi he no longer had any. She was always bothering him; trying to tell him about monsters when he was trying to concentrate on not getting chopped in half by the monster she was yammering about; telling him to look at some stupid fish or rock that had no discernible importance. She was always reminding him to hurry up and collect the stones, as if he didn't remember that Zelda had sent him on a mission that would save Hyrule, not to play in the woods.

And it was so damned embarrassing having to ask her to wait on the _other _side of the tree while he relieved himself. 

As long as he was thinking about things females did that bothered him, what about Zelda's quest? Why would a princess entrust a mission that would determine the fate of her kingdom to a little boy with a fairy and a green rock who had just broken into her castle? Why wouldn't she send one of her father's knights, or simply send envoys to ask for the stones? There was no way she could have known that one would be inside a giant fish and the other would only be given in return for the destruction of a lizard behemoth. It had been nagging him for days, ever since she had first asked him to undertake this journey.

It was getting dark now, and Link was tired. He looked around. They were near Kokiri Forest, and Link did not feel like fighting reanimated skeletons tonight. Besides, it would be nice to sleep in his own bed again. And he could go see Saria. He missed her badly. 

He turned Epona towards Kokiri Forest and spurred her into a faster pace, but still slow enough that Navi could keep up with them. He couldn't wait to play all the new songs he had learned for her. She would be impressed, he was sure. And she would probably laugh out loud when he told her about how Darunia had danced to her song. He chuckled under his breath, remembering the scene.

They were outside the entrance to Kokiri Forest now, and Link slid off Epona's back, and gave her a friendly pat on the nose.

"Go on home Epona. I'll call you in the morning and we'll go to the castle." he said drowsily. "Good night." Epona gave a quiet whinny, then turned and began to trot away, building up speed into a gallop.

"And say hello to Malon for me!" Link cried after the retreating mare. He then turned and headed into the woods. "What do you think Navi, should I sleep first and talk to Saria tomorrow, or find Saria now and sleep later?"

The little ball of light that was Navi floated down from above his head and landed on his shoulder. "I'm tired," came her minuscule voice. "Let's sleep now."

Link nodded. "Alright, Saria first then!" he said, smirking.

"You're awful, Link." said Navi, taking to the air once more. Link grinned even wider, and advanced into his hometown.

The entire forest was quiet. The Kokiri were generally not night people, and the forest generally went to bed almost as soon as the sun went down. This had really thrown Link off when he left the forest. In Hyrule Market for example, it seemed like no one ever slept, and even in rural Kakariko Village people stayed up considerably longer than the Kokiri. Climbing up the ladder of his tree house, Link gazed out over the forest and sighed contentedly. He didn't really care that much about the better part of Hyrule; this was what he really wanted to save. The rest was just a bonus. 

_No, that's not true._ he thought. _I also care about Malon and Epona and Ruto and Darunia and Zelda._ He further considered this. _Actually, I don't really care too much about most of the people here either, especially not Mido. But… the forest itself… _that _is worth saving And Saria. _

Contented with his newfound insight, he climbed the rest of the way into his tree house and removed his equipment. His shield, his sword, his slingshot, deku nuts, potions, goron bracelets, and all the rest; and set them down beside his bed. Then the Spiritual Stones. These were too important to just leave lying around, so he laid them in his bed and covered them with his pillow and blanket. Satisfied, he picked up his ocarina and headed back outside.

Saria's home was empty, and there was nothing indicating where she had gone or for how long. Link knew Mido would probably know. Somehow he always knew where Saria was. Link had never liked that, but at least this time it would come in handy.

When he reached Mido's house he hesitated. He had never been here before, at least not when Mido was actually around, and he had never asked Mido for a favor before. It was not exactly something he had ever needed, or rather wanted, to do and he wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing it.

__

Aw, screw it.

Link knocked on the trunk of Mido's house, and when nothing happened he knocked harder. Still nothing. He knocked once more, and when there was again no response, he pushed aside the flap of cloth the served as a door and went inside. Mido was lying on a large bed made of loam and moss, and snoring loudly. Link wondered briefly at how he hadn't been able to hear Mido from outside. Shrugging it off, he crossed the room and gently shook Mido. 

Nothing. He shook Mido again, harder. Still nothing. 

__

This guy could sleep through a goron rock orchestra. No way I'm going to wake him up like this. Time for plan b.

Link left the house and returned a moment later with a deku nutshell full of water, which he began to dribble on Mido's head. After the first few drops, Mido stirred in his sleep, then sat up, blinking his eyes. 

"What are you doing here? You've got a lot of nerve being here after you killed the Deku Tree." he said, once his vision had cleared. "I thought you left the forest. You didn't, did you? I knew it!" he proclaimed, triumphantly. Link rolled his eyes.

"Shut up Mido. Where's Saria?" Mido's expression turned to one of annoyance.

"What makes you think I know where Saria is?" Link leaned down, closing the distance between their faces.

"Because you _always_ know where Saria is." Mido considered this.

"Alright, better question. What makes you think I'll _tell_ you where Saria is?" Link moved closer.

"Do you want to find out?" Mido considered this too.

"Are you threatening me?"

"I never said that."

Mido pulled back, and turned his head to look away from Link. 

"Saria said to tell you she'd be at 'your special place.' It was almost like she knew you'd be looking for her tonight."

Link nodded an acknowledgment of Mido's unwilling aid, and left the Kokiri leader's home.

__

Our special place… that must be the old ruins in the Lost Woods. he thought, and headed for the entrance to the path through those same woods. 

__

Now was it left left right straight or left right straight left? No, right right left straight right left? He stopped for a moment, thinking, before it came to him. _Oh yeah, right left right left straight left right._ He hurried on towards what he would one day learn to be the Forest Temple, but for know was only his meeting place with Saria. Already he could hear her singing in the distance, and he smiled to himself as memories of that song came to his mind. 

"Link! Slow down! I'm tired!" wailed Navi, somewhere behind him. "Slow down before I loose you!" Her pleas fell upon deaf ears, though, and Link ran on paying his fairy no mind. Finally, he reached the meadow before the place at which his friend was waiting, and his progress was blocked momentarily by a gateway of vertical steel bars. Only for a moment though, as a minute's searching located the switch which lowered them again. 

Finally, he reached the end of the maze and stood at the end of a corridor of trees which had grown so close together as to effectively form a wall, and he headed down it, Saria's song growing clearer and less faint with each step. When he reached the end of the corridor, he saw Saria sitting on a nearby stump with her back to him, singing her song to herself. Deciding to surprise her, he stalked up silently behind her, barely even drawing breath until he was only inches away from his unsuspecting friend, and putting his arms around her, pulling her into an strong embrace. 

At the initial contact, she yelped and tried to break free of his embrace, twisting herself around in his arms and suddenly stopping all motion as she saw his beaming face, and broke into a wide grin.

"Link! You're back!" she squealed, her eyes seeming to sparkle. "I missed you so much!" She returned his hug before they broke apart. "So how did it go? Did you get all the stones? C'mon! Tell me all about it! You must have gotten a lot stronger to have beaten the wolfos outside the gate without even getting a scratch!"

Link's smile faded. 

"What wolfos?" he asked, just before he heard a snarl from the natural corridor from which he had just come. "Oh, that wolfos." 

He sprang away from Saria, reaching to draw his sword and shield before remembering he had left them in his tree house. Quickly, he cast his gaze about, searching for something to use as a weapon when he heard Saria scream. 

"Link! Help me!" she screamed, as she tried to escape the wolf monster which had cornered her. Without a second, or even a first, thought, Link threw himself on the wolfos, trying to reach around its neck to cut off its air supply. But the creature just threw him off and returned its attention to Saria, who was trying to climb one of the ancient stone pillars in order to escape the beast's reach. She wasn't high enough though, and the wolfos leapt at her, knocking her to the ground and driving her into another corner. 

Link was back on his feet now, and he charged the wolfos, throwing himself into a headlong tackle to the wolfos's side and knocking it way from Saria, who was now running for the tree corridor. The fall had injured her leg though, and she was limping and bleeding a little. The wolfos which was struggling to its feet while trying to throw off the boy who had latched onto its mid-section, redoubled its efforts now that the scent of blood was in the air. Snapping at Link, it dislodged the boy and bounded off after the retreating Kokiri girl until Link grabbed it by the tail. Giving the wolfos's tail a hard jerk, he redirected the creature's attention momentarily, before the wolfos kicked him with its powerful back legs, sending him flying. Forgetting Saria, the wolfos now snarled and stalked towards Link, who was trying to regain vertical status. As it approached him, Link thought _At least Saria's safe._

Ironically, it was right at this moment that Saria threw herself on the wolfos mimicking the bravery Link had shown in his attempt to rescue her, with much the same results, as the wolfos threw her off even more easily than it had Link. Beginning to grow angry, the wolfos pounced at Saria, but Link rushed forward and tackled the monster once more, before the wolfos kicked him again, sending him slamming into the stone pillar Saria had tried to climb. As his head cracked against the hard stone laid down by ancient peoples in an age long past, his consciousness was enveloped in darkness.

***

He awoke to the sound of Navi screaming his name.

"Link! Link! What happened here?" came Navi's shrill little voice. Link did not answer, instead sitting up groggily and trying to remember himself. It came back to him quickly. Ditching Navi, sneaking up on Saria, the wolfos… Saria!

"Where's Saria?" he asked, jumping to his feet and feeling nauseous for a moment as his blood suddenly had to pump harder to reach his brain in sufficient quantity. As soon as it passed, he began darting around the clearing, looking for some sign of his friend, and finding nothing encouraging. 

The most obvious thing was the blood all over the ground, trailing off back the way Link had entered the clearing from. Link presently realized that he too was covered in blood, though a quick touch test revealed that it was his own, as there was a minor gash on the back of his head, the blood from which had pooled around him while he had laid unconscious. The rest of the blood was not is though. And neither was the tiny hunk of carved wood near the stump Saria had been seated upon. He picked it up. It looked like it was meant to be opened, like a wooden locket or something, but he could not get it open. He turned it over in his hands. This side bore Saria's tiny ornate signature, the little trademark she put on everything she made. There was no doubt that this was Saria's.

But the girl it belonged to was no where to be found, and Link was still alive. If there had been two people and a hungry wolfos, and now there was only one person, there was little doubt in Link's mind as to what had happened to the other person. Saria had saved his life, though unintentionally. And now, she was gone. 

Link collapsed to his knees, and stared off into space as Navi circled him, still asking the same question. 

"What happened? Link? What happened? Where's Saria? Link?"

Through eyes brimming with tears, Link screamed out

"Shut up Navi!"

The fairy recoiled in shock, then floated closer to her charge and nudged him gently. "Link?"

Link jumped to his feet, fighting back tears, and took a wild swing at her. 

"Get away from me! Go! Get away from me before I get angry!"

Navi flew back away from him, hurt, but not physically.

"Link…" she started, then changed her mind. "Fine! I don't like hanging around you anyway! I'm always getting attacked by _something, _even the kid I'm supposed to be helping!"

"Get out of here!" shouted Link, barely able to restrain the reservoirs behind his eyes from bursting.

"I will! Good Bye!" she returned, not fully comprehending what was happening, and flying off over the wall of trees towards the former site of the Great Deku Tree. 

Now the tears came, and Link cried until his eyes were so dry it hurt to keep them open, and fell asleep where he lay.

When he awoke it was morning, and he sat up feeling sick to his stomach. He felt an empty spot deep in his chest that had not been there before he had returned to Kokiri Forest, and knew what was supposed to be filling it. As he stood, the feeling of nausea returned to him, and his legs felt like rubber beneath him. Still, somehow he remained upright. He needed something to take his mind off of the matter at hand. The Spiritual Stones, yes, those would do. He staggered to the tree corridor, and paused at the top of it, looking back and his gaze fell on the little hunk of wood that was all Saria had left behind. He picked it up, and stuffed it into his tunic. 

__

I'll never forget you, Saria. You, you're my best friend. You still are, you, you always will be. He felt tears beginning to well up again, and pushed the thoughts from his mind, staggering off back towards Kokiri Forest. 

***

Link awoke feeling sick to his stomach. Once again, his dreams had not been kind, choosing to show him a scene from his past once again. A scene he had never wanted to recall again. 

The empty space in his chest throbbed. It had never left him, but he had learned to ignore it; another thing he had Ganondorf to thank for. Now though, he could not ignore it. 

He climbed out of his bed and treaded over to the large chest at the end of his bed. Then, after opening it, he dug down to the very bottom where he removed a tiny bundle of green material, which he unrolled to reveal the tiny object it had protected. He did not look at it yet though, and instead replaced everything in his trunk very carefully. Then, sitting on his bed, he looked down at the tiny hunk of wood he had found that day, and began to cry for the first time in almost seven years.


	5. Marriage

Disclaimer: Look, we all know I don't own Zelda, so let's get on with it.  
  
Chapter 5: Marriage  
  
Malon was not adapting well to castle life. For starters, everything in King Ganondorf's Castle was black or charcoal gray or blood red, metal or stone or coarse, hard leather. There was no hint of nature, no trace of softness, no speck of true life. Then there were the servants. It wasn't that they weren't kindly to her; that was just the problem. They were all so stiff and formal, or timid and afraid, and jumped at every mistake. On only her second day living in the castle she had mentioned that her soup was a bit to hot, and the servant that had brought it to her immediately fell to his knees and begged her forgiveness. They treated her as if she were royalty, and it was starting to irritate her. She wasn't accustomed to people doing everything for her, or being around her all the time, or being afraid of her. She couldn't seem to find privacy anywhere. Even in her own room she felt as if someone were watching her.  
Then there was the royal family. Link of course was nice to her, and friendly for the most part, and really seemed to like her, but he was the only one. When Link had brought her here and introduced her to his family, Ganondorf had merely nodded absentmindedly and made a gesture that suggested that he didn't mind her existing. The queen had been no more comforting. She was a young, beautiful Gerudo wearing a gown fitting for someone of royal stature, but left her shoulders and upper chest exposed. Link had said she was once the Gerudo leader Nabooru's second in command, but when Ganondorf seized power and Nabooru opposed him, Ganondorf...dealt with her, and married her right hand woman. Link wouldn't say exactly how she had been "dealt with" though...  
In any case, the queen had made Malon very nervous. Not because she was royalty, but because she acted so kindly and warmly, almost motherly, but it was so obviously a charade.  
The worst though, was Link's sister, Ketume. Link had said that she was most likely the one behind the assassination attempt that had almost left Malon dead instead of Link, and yet they acted like it was only business as usual between the two of them. There was very obviously tension between the siblings, actually, more of a deep rooted hatred. However, Link acted as if he genuinely loved his sister, platonically of course, though as with the queen it was obviously a charade. Ketume on the other hand, made no effort whatsoever to mask her hatred of Link, and that hatred carried over to Malon. She did, however, mask her hatred of Malon, however poorly, and insisted on spending much time with, as she put it, "her future sister-in-law." This made Malon even more uneasy, because although he had never said anything to indicate this, Malon had a sneaking suspicion that marriage was exactly what Link had had in mind when he came to her rescue.  
Malon sighed. Castle life was so complex; she almost missed the simplicity of her life on the ranch under Ingo. Almost.  
"Is something wrong sister?" asked Ketume, who was sitting across the table from Malon, sipping a cup of tea. Malon quickly shook her head to clear it, and answered back.  
"No, I'm fine. Just...a lot on my mind."  
Ketume nodded knowingly, and took another sip of tea. Drinking tea with Ketume always made Malon even more uncomfortable. It was only a reminder of how Ketume was hiding her hatred of Malon and trying to appear friendly. Also, Malon always thought it would be more fitting to see Ketume drinking some steaming green liquid from a shallow bowl, rather than tea. Malon tried to clear the thought from her mind, and took a drink from her own glass of milk, ironically enough, from Ingo Ranch.  
"Anyway, you were saying?" she continued.  
"I asked you why you want to marry my brother."  
Ahh. More small talk. Whenever they spoke to one another Ketume would ask her questions like this, questions that would result in meaningless small talk between the two young women. Malon didn't understand Ketume's motives for these questionings, but she couldn't see any harm in answering her questions.  
"I've told you before that I'm not even sure I really do want to marry Link. I mean, I like him, sure, and I owe him a lot for saving me from Ingo, but...I'm just not sure that he's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with."  
"But then why did you accept his offer to come to the castle?"  
"Well, where else was I going to go? My father is most likely dead, and I don't exactly know anyone else in Hyrule who would take me in. Besides, when he offered, I didn't know just how much he had changed..."  
This seemed to get Ketume's attention.  
"Changed?"  
"Yeah... I can't say how, but...he's not the boy I remember."  
Ketume sat back, disappointed in not getting any new information.  
"That would be father's influence. I remember when my dear brother first came to us. He was such a weakling. He'd actually cry himself to sleep some nights, if you can believe that."  
Malon could believe it. It sounded so much more like the Link she had known as Fairy Boy back when they were just kids. So much more like the Link she could have fallen in love with.  
"Anyway, after father started training him that all went away. Now, he leads our army in combat, and when father dies, he will be king." Ketume laughed. "If it weren't for the fact that I wasn't to rule after father, I could almost like the guy!"  
Malon laughed nervously along with the Gerudo princess. Elsewhere in the castle, Ganondorf and his son were having a conversation revolving around a similar topic.  
"Yes, I understand that you like her, but beyond that, why does it have to be her? Why not Princess Jenova of Memivar? She's pretty enough, and from what I hear she's very quiet and obedient. Not to mention that she's the heir to the Memivar throne. You know how large a kingdom that is."  
Link sighed. "Yes, father, but we both know that in only another five years time at most we will have sufficient forces to take Memivar by force."  
"Have I taught you nothing?" asked Ganondorf, decapitating another of the phantoms he used for exercise and entertainment. "Never take by force what you can gain by manipulation." He paused for a moment. "Very well, if you don't want Jenova, what about Lady Chirico? She has control of almost as much land as Jenova."  
"I'll pass, thanks," said Link, parrying a phantom's attack absent- mindedly, then stabbing it through the heart.  
"Isn't there anyone else you would consider as an eligible bride?"  
"I'm sorry father, but Malon is the only girl alive that I really want."  
"How can you know that? You've never even met Jenova or Chirico. For all you know you could love them twice as much as you love Malon."  
"I will have Malon, father. No other."  
Ganondorf sighed. "What about for a mistress? Would you marry a princess if you could have Malon as your mistress?" Link was silent for a moment, considering this as he felled another phantom.  
"No..." he said presently. "I don't think such an arrangement would sit well upon my mind."  
"Well what if you married one of the other girls and she met with an accident, then you married Malon?" Again, Link took this into consideration.  
"No, I don't think so. You know I'm not particularly fond of...unnecessary assassination."  
Ganondorf sighed more heavily. "You're impossible, Link." After a few minutes more of phantom slaughter, Ganondorf spoke up again. "You know, when I first started training you, I thought you might marry Ketume..."  
Link was so surprised at his surrogate father's comment that he almost didn't block the phantom's attack in time. Ganondorf laughed at this.  
"It quickly became apparent to me that such a union would be...unbeneficial...for both of you."  
Link coughed audibly. "Does Ketume know this?"  
Ganondorf laughed. "Not at all! The girl is not so...controlled as you. She would positively explode if she ever knew." 


	6. Commander

**Chapter 6: Commander**

Link stood before the force of monstrosities his father had given him to command. He felt strange. Up until a few years ago these same monsters had been trying to kill him, and he had been returning the favor nigh constantly. Whenever he heard the sound of a stalchild's bones clattering behind him, it was all he could do to not spin around and chop its head off.

He could still hear Ganondorf's orders in his head. "Exterminate Kakariko. Destroy the descendants of the Sheikah; ensure that no more of the ninja-esque protectors of the royal family would rise up to fight. No mercy."

The entire way to the village he had wondered if he could do it. If he could really kill the people in that village. A few of them hadn't been so bad, the cucco lady had been nice enough, and Dante, although a bit strange, wasn't bad. They didn't deserve what was coming. Well, probably. But Ganondorf had been adamant. "Leave no one alive," he had said. "Kill them all."

They were outside the gates of Kakariko now. They were closed for the night, but they were so weak that even Link's small attack force would have no trouble breaking the flimsy palisade down. Once that wall was down there would be turning back. A lizalfo moved up behind him, and croaked out a question.

"Uz downbreak walldere, Kommana?" Its voice was something between a frog's croak and the groan of an old door, and its breath was musty. Even its corrupted manner of speech was disturbing, although after awhile, it became more irritating than frightening. Link shuddered involuntarily anyway.

"Kommana? Whassayu?"

Link closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _I guess all I can do is hope they aren't home. _ "Do it."

"Whassay?" The lizalfo sounded confused. "Yu takka bahdstrenge."

"Um, you down-break wall there now?"

"Wassu say Kommana, uz do ut!" The lizalfo made some sort of gesture that might have been a salute, and garbled something at the rest of the force. Including the lizalfo Link had just spoken with, the attack force consisted of two lizalfo, eight stalchildren, and a pair of redeads. They would recruit the graveyard poes once inside the village. _No, that's quite accurate_, he thought. _They have grown too much to be stalchildren, but they certainly aren't stalfos yet. What would that make them? Stalteens? Oh forget it. _

The lizalfos and stalchildren proceeded to attack the wall, and after only moments the flimsy wood was nothing more than a heap of splinters. The monsters of the attack force rushed off into the village, shrieking and laughing. Lights came on, and men came out of houses, then ran back inside. Some came back out with various armaments, and tried to fight the monsters. Link grabbed two of the stalchildren as they ran by and pulled them back.

"Stay here with the redeads, make sure no one leaves the village." He spotted one of the lizalfos slashing at an elderly woman, laughing out loud, and called to it. "You! Come with me!" The lizalfo instantly obeyed, and followed Link up the stairways that lead to the Death Mountain trail. Link was relieved to see that the guard that had once stood vigilantly at the gate was gone. He had not wanted to have to kill the man himself.

"Get that gate shut," he ordered the lizalfo. "I'm going to the graveyard. Stay here and kill anyone who tries to get through!" he shouted as he ran off.

"Cucco?"

Link stopped, and looked back. A cucco. Probably the one thing in the village that he wouldn't mind slaying himself. He had never liked the damn birds. He reached back over his shoulder and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his new sword. Ganondorf had given it to him as a gift to go along with his new command. As he drew the weapon, he felt something came over him, a sort of...cold heat, like he was being immersed in icy water as flames burned all around him. He felt...liberated, like a new person, but he was still himself, sort of. He pulled the sword from its scabbard, reveling in the sensation caused by the sound of the blade being drawn against it's the metal of its sheath. He looked at the blade. Around him he could hear the screams of women, the wails of children, the crackle-snap of fires consuming houses, but it all seemed so unimportant. The sword, the sword was important. It was heavy in his hand, full of the weight of an item with only one purpose. It seemed to speak to him. It told him to fulfill its purpose.

"Yes," he said to the sword, grinning. He turned to the cucco, and raised the sword.

_No, _something inside of him said. _Do not disgrace this blade by taking the life of mere poultry with it. Do not make a butcher's knife out of the masterpiece. This blade deserves for its first taste of blood, the blood of a human. The blood of a man._

"Yes," he said again, and looked out over the village. "Yes."

With that he leapt off the hill he stood on and into the midst of the confusion that was Kakariko Village. All around him people were screaming and dying, houses were burning, and his monsters were cackling with deranged laughter as they killed the people. There was a man just outside the door of one house, swinging an old wheat scythe at a stalchild, yelling out his anger. Link smiled to himself. This man's blood would stain the sword before any other's.

"You! Get away from him!" he shouted to the stalchild. Both the stalchild and the man looked at him, the stalchild with confusion and incomprehension, the man with anger. How dare this mere boy try and fight his battle for him. That would change soon enough.

"This one is mine," he said to the stalchild, which bowed curtly, and moved back to watch. The man now stared at him with surprise, which quickly turned to loathing as Link approached him, a smile on his face, and his blade drawn.

"Traitor!" snarled the man, raising the scythe.

"Die," replied Link, and he lunged forward. The man swung, Link parried easily. Scythes were not made for fighting, but Link was going to have some fun.

Hopping back, Link waited for the man to bring the scythe to bear again, and swing. Link flipped backwards, dodging the swing, and landing on his feet he lunged forward again and slashed at the scythe, intentionally striking the blade. As the man tried to regain control of the implement, Link pushed closer, making feints and slashing at the man, missing intentionally. There was just something about the look on the man's face when Link swung at him that he loved. Link danced back and struck the scythe's blade again, but this time the man was ready, and used the momentum to slash at Link, who just barely parried it. Suddenly, Link was serious.

"Alright, I think that's about enough of this," he announced, and ran the man through before he was even able to reply.

As Link stood there, the man's body began to slowly slide off the sword, and soon it collapsed on the ground, so the body was lying on its stomach. Blood began to pool around it, but Link wasn't paying attention. He was too busy looking at his bloodstained blade. As he held it up to the moonlight, the silvery steel gleamed, and the dark red blood of the villager glistened, and ran down the blade, carrying the light with it, then trickling off into a second, smaller puddle of blood that was forming at Link's feet, reflecting the moon itself. It was as if the light of the moon in the sky was being drained by the sword into the moon on the ground. It was beautiful to him.

He looked around him, and as if for the first time, saw what was happening. He smiled to himself, and walked into the chaos, to search out another worthy of dying on his sword.

Link stared out his window at the night sky. It was overcast, so there was no light from the stars or the moon. Only the flickering light of the torches inside of the castle.

_Why do I keep remembering these things? Why can't I just sleep through even one night anymore? What is happening to me?_

Link cast his gaze downward, toward the ruined town of Hyrule Castle Market, now nothing more than the barracks of the armies of his father, and home to the few Hyrulians disturbed enough to still live in the back alleys.

_I am becoming restless, that's all. It's been so long since I was in a battle that I'm getting bored. I'll go find something to kill tomorrow. I'll feel better then._

Link left his window and returned to his bed, slipping under the covers, and back to sleep, hoping that he would be allowed to make it until morning without suffering another memory.


	7. General

**Chapter 7: General**

Disclaimer: Is this really necessary?

Link's horse snorted indignantly beneath him as he rode it along the line of soldiers he was to lead today. He had considered riding Epona today, in battle for the first time, but had decided against it, leaving the mare behind in case Malon missed her.

As he walked the line, his troops hurried to look busy. The dinalfos sharpened and polished their swords, the poes prepared their lanterns, and the wolfos stretched out. Link eyed the latter coldly. He had never quite gotten over his hatred of wolfos since Saria's death, but his father had convinced him to give up his desire to eradicate every wolfos in existence. Even now, years later, he could hardly stand to have the wolfos in his command, and he routinely sent them into the most dangerous areas of combat, not caring whether or not they came back alive. Unfortunately, as far as he was concerned anyway, the wolfos were exceptionally ferocious in battle and usually did survive.

Today would be something of a return to normalcy for Link. He had been growing restless without battle since the Goron stronghold deep within the Fire Temple had fallen to him. The expression on Darunia's face when they confronted one another had been so deliciously hurt.

The enemy was a small expeditionary force from the neighboring kingdom of Lokkamaand, the kingdom in which it was rumored that Princess Zelda had taken refuge when she fled Hyrule. Link's scouts had informed him of the enemy's numbers: pitifully low. Maybe a couple dozen men at most. Yet, for some reason Link did not fully comprehend, Ganondorf wanted him to tae a full compliment of Hyrule's troops with him to quash the excursion. _I suppose that's just one more thing I must learn before I become the king, _he thought.

He reached the end of the battle line and turned to pace back to the other end when the call came. The enemy was within sight. Link turned his horse and spurred it back to the center of the line where he brought it to a halt and twisting in the saddle, he began to scan the horizon. It was only a moment before he saw them.

As the scouts had said, they were few in number: half-a-dozen horsemen, and eighteen, maybe twenty footmen. Link's force was positioned just behind the ridge of a hill, so none of them should be visible to the enemy yet.

"Everyone down," he said in a near whisper. A nearby dinalfos saluted smartly and hissed the order to the creatures on either side of him, each of which passed it to the next until the entire line was concealed behind the crest of the hill. Link looked back one last time to check that everyone was indeed down, then trotted his mount up to the apex of the hill, where he drew his bow and knocked an arrow. He didn't draw it back though, and waited, watching silently and motionlessly as the small column of Lokkamaand soldiers advanced slowly. The horseman at the head of the column raised his hand cautiously in greeting. In response, Link put an arrow through his chest, and a second one before he or any of his companions could react. Even before he hit the ground, a selection of Link's army chosen long before crested the hill and rushed toward the small column, screaming warcries and moving to encircle the enemy. The majority of the army remained hidden. The trapped soldiers panicked. Several of the footmen surged forward and were quickly slain by the creatures under Link's command.

The remaining soldiers within the ring of monsters seemed hesitant, their brains rushing to choose a course of action, as Link advanced slowly down the hill. When he reached the ring of monsters they parted, allowing him to move to the center, then silently moving back into their former positions. Two of the surviving horsemen quickly moved to meet him as he entered the center of the ring. One, the larger, sterner looking of the two stared at him with angry, burning eyes through the raised visor of his helm. The other's face was not visible, though Link was sure he bore an expression of terror, as his body trembled slightly, but noticeably.

"Who are you, who commands loyalty from such monstrosities, to slay our comrade?" demanded the stern knight.

"I am Link, Prince of Hyrule," he replied, dispassionately. "And it is upon my father, King Ganondorf's orders, that I have slain your ally, and that I will slay you all. If any among you wish to be sparred, speak now and surrender."

None of the soldiers moved or spoke, though clearly several wanted to, prevented by their fear. Whether that fear was of the monsters before them, or that their own companions would slay them if they did, Link could not be certain.

"There are none among us who would be the captives of Ganondorf before they were dead," retorted the knight. "So save your false grace and die!" Even as he spoke the last sentence he drew his blade, and swung at Link. Leaning back in the saddle just enough to avoid the knight's attack, Link drew his own sword. It was not the same blade he had carried years before when he had slain the scythe-wielding man in Kakariko. That weapon had been lost long ago in the depths of the Fire Temple. This blade had been a gift in celebration of the vanquishing of the Gerudo King's last opposition within the borders of Hyrule, the fall of the Gorons. If anything, it was even more exquisite than the sword he had lost. This would be the first time he had used it in a true battle, and the knight would be it's first taste of blood.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Link said, sarcastically, running the knight through before his opponent could swing again. As he withdrew his blade, the knight's face twisted into a sneer of defiance, as he struggled to remain upright. "Not quite dead yet, are you?" said Link, vilely. "Well then, lets have some _fun!_" As their blades clashed, the monsters fell upon the soldiers, ripping the men apart, their dying screams flying to the heavens. Such was the symphony that Link and the wounded knight dueled.

The knight was ferocious, like the cornered rodent he was. His attacks were powerful and Link soon was having difficulty warding them off. He wasn't worried though, and simply reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled a small nut with a cracked shell, which he threw in the knight's face. The furious knight's expression quickly turned to one of panic when the nut hit his armor, creating a flash of light and leaving him paralyzed. Link smiled cruelly, and ran the knight through once more, then simply pushed the man off his horse before the Deku nut's effects wore off. As the knight's horse reeled back and ran, another knight quickly took his companion's place, and Link was soon engaged in a second duel to the death.

Back in the Great Hall of Hyrule Castle, the royal family watched the battle with varying degrees of interest. The large golden circle on the floor before the thrones had taken on a glassy sheen, as if it had been replaced by a window, on the other side of which was Link. The window followed him wherever he moved. Ganondorf, seated on his great throne, watched with a mix of amusement and indifference. Link would be victorious, there was no doubt about that. His forces greatly outnumbered his opponents. He had laughed out loud when Link had shot the first horseman in greeting, and again when he had slain his second opponent by decapitating him then skewering his head and using it as a club to beat at his third opponent before Link's blade had cut through the severed head.

The Queen's amusement was obvious as well, though she did not laugh. Instead, she simply smiled and narrowed her eyes ever more.

Ketume, seated upon the steps of the throne platform, watched in disgust that not one of her despised brother's opponents had managed to so much as scratch him yet. Every time a Lokkamaand soldier took a swing at him she muttered Gerudo curses under her breath, praying that the weapon would hit its mark, always fruitlessly.

Malon, standing just behind the Queen's throne, watched with increasing horror. In every instance that Ganondorf laughed, she strangled another sob in her throat. Ever since Link had brought her here, her childhood memories of him had been fading, giving way to the cold reality of who he now was. Until now though, she had managed to keep her belief in his goodness alive, certain that it was only being suppressed by the Gerudo King. But witnessing this battle, she doubted even that now. In her mind every semblance of Fairy Boy was falling away, being steadily replaced by the image of Prince Link, the cold, uncaring man who expected her to marry him. Until now she had been uncertain that she could be happy with him, but after what she had just seen, she knew she could not.

Returning from her thoughts to the realm of reality, she looked back to the window in the floor.

Link sat upon his mount, his sword still drawn, dripping blood onto the ground as he scanned the area for signs of living foes, and seeing none. Raising his sword, he issued the command for the forces of Ganondorf to gather up the bodies and return to the castle, where the heads of the Lokkamaand soldiers would be mounted upon the spikes that ran along the top of the outer walls. As he turned to go, however, he heard something groaning in pain behind him. Dismounting, he walked several paces back towards the center of the battlefield. Again he heard the noise, and looking at his feet he saw the body of the stern knight, still clinging to life.

_How can he still be alive? I stabbed him in the chest twice, and even if _that _didn't kill him, he should have been trampled to death during the fighting. _

Shrugging it off as unimportant, Link crouched down by the knight's head. The knight, a grimace of great pain and defiance on his face, looked at him.

"You have your wish. Every one of your men are dead, and in a moment you will join them," Link said, his voice barely audible, though the knight seemed to hear him. "Any last requests?"

"Burn in hell you bastard."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Link stood, walking slowly back to his horse. Behind him, he heard the snarls of a pack of wolfos as they moved in on the dying man. For a moment, as he remounted his horse, he considered ordering the beasts to leave the man to die slowly by himself, but already he could hear the wolfos beginning to devour him, the knight too weak even to cry out in pain as the teeth of the creatures tore into him. All the knight could do as Link slowly rode away was whimper and sob silently to himself as he gradually fell into the nothingness of the eternal sleep.


	8. Sworn Brothers

Chapter 8: Sworn Brothers

Disclaimer: Okay, look. It's just going to be faster for me to let you know once I DO own Zelda, so until that announcement comes, assume that I don't. Capiche?

Link stood before the entranceway to the Goron City, his fingers drumming aimlessly on the hilt of the sword he had carried since Kakariko Village, four years ago. He had been in Ganondorf's service for six years now, and today he would drive the final obstacle in his father's way from Hyrule.

Behind him his command waited silently, save for the rattling of stalfos bones whenever one of the undead moved. As disgusting as they were, Link was glad to have them with him tonight. Stalfos were the backbone of the king's army, despite the fact that they had to remain hidden in the daylight hours. Link groaned to himself at the unintentional pun. In any case, the stalfos were why Ganondorf had blackened the skies over the castle and Hyrule Market: so that they could move about uninhibited by sunlight, the better to defend their master.

The battle before them would not be an easy one. Though normally complacent and slow to take to violence, once the gorons were angered they stayed angry and became a force to be reckoned with.

And the past six years of warfare had most definitely angered them.

The two sentries they had encountered on the Death Mountain Trail had been testament to that ferocity. The first had immediately attacked them; the second had rolled off at breakneck speed to the city to raise the alarm. The first goron had lay into them with his —or maybe her, Link had never been able to tell— powerful fists, smashing the bones of a nearby stalfos with ease, the goron's rocky back turning aside blades with ease.

Leaving his force to deal with the first sentry, Link turned his attention to the second. Confident as he was that his force could annihilate the gorons in battle, it would be much easier to simply kill them in their sleep. Knocking an arrow, he took careful aim, and whispering a few chosen words, released it. A streak of blue ice shards trailing behind it like a comet, the ice arrow struck the ground before the goron, freezing it instantly and causing the rolling goron to skid out of control. Uncurling, the goron leapt to its feet, snarling ferally. Not many people saw an angry, a _truly_ angry goron, and even fewer had lived to say anything about it. Drawing his sword, Link fell upon the rocky creature, slashing at its soft belly.

Blocking the blade with a rocky forearm, the goron roared out loud, taking a powerful swing at Link, which would have left him lying several feet away with a concussion had he not jumped back. Then, lunging forward, Link slashed at the goron's belly once more, this time striking his target, causing the goron to cry out in pain and collapse, clutching its profusely bleeding gut. As he wiped the blood from his blade his forces approached him, having finished with the first sentry.

Now all there was to do was to wait. The pose he had sent through the Dark Woods should be opening the door anytime now. As he waited, his mind wandered to his last visit to the Goron City. Back when he had come as Zelda's message boy, as her plaything, to retrieve the spiritual stone in their possession. Instantly, he pushed the memories from his mind, focusing on the here and now, just as his father had taught him.

They had been waiting nearly two hours when Link decided the poes weren't coming. Swearing under his breath for the incompetence of the spirits, he quickly racked his mind for a way to get inside the Goron City. He could send more troops through the Dark Woods, or even go himself, but no. That would take far too long, as dawn would come before the doors were opened, and the stalfos would need to hide from the sun. Again his thoughts wandered to the time he had spent here as a child, and suddenly the answer came to him. Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out a small blue ocarina. _That bitch's arrogance will be her allies' death yet_, he thought.

The melody came to him quickly, and the door slowly opened before them in response to the song of the previous Hyrule Royal Family. Before it had opened halfway, Link's monstrosities rushed past them silently. They were well trained.

Ending the song abruptly, he followed his forces inside, stepping over the slain bodies of two gorons, presumably the keepers of the entrance. Casting his gaze about the cavernous chamber, it quickly became obvious that the gorons had fled the city. Angrily kicking the nearest corpse, he again swore under his breath. As he did he noticed a track in the ground where a third goron had escaped, no doubt to warn the others, wherever they were.

Still determined to find the gorons, Link ordered his forces to remain at the entrance and walked off into the city himself. Wherever he looked, however, he came up empty handed. Angrily punching the wall, he cursed once more. His father had warned him that this might happen. If the gorons were not in the city, they must be holed up in the Fire Temple. Link would have to leave his stalfos behind. The intense heat within Death Mountain would melt their bones into puddles of marrow in minutes. If not for the blood red tunic his father had presented him with before his forces had set out, even he would be unable to withstand more than a minute or two within the volcano.

He would have to take the dinofols. Link sighed, surrendering to the circumstances.

_At least they aren't as bad as they were as lizalfos, _he thought. _Their accents don't come through quite so thick, and their Hylian is considerably better. _

Calling to the dinofols, he moved to Darunia's throne room, and gripping the statue within, he dragged it back allowing a blast of hot air to flood the chamber. The dinofols, just entering the room seemed to drink in the hot air, becoming more energetic. Eyeing them with mild disgust, Link entered the cone of Death Mountain.

To say that the heat was oppressive would be a disgusting understatement. Before the cooling property of his tunic kicked in Link felt as if his face was melting, there was so much sweat pouring off it. Even then, he felt immediately weary and fatigued. He wished he could go to sleep. The heat seemed to have the exact opposite effect on the dinofols, though, which only became even more excited and energetic. They soon began to squeal with delight until Link told them to shut up in a sleepy, yet commanding and irritated voice. Shaking his head, trying to clear it of the sudden waves of weariness, he muttered silent curses under his breath, displeased, to say the least, with the current arrangements. The gorons had the home field advantage and undoubtedly outnumbered his own force, which now numbered a mere thirty-one, including himself. Like stalfos, dinofols always fought in pairs, so he was effectively working with only sixteen separate units, assuming he went alone. And dinofols weren't exactly the brightest candles in the chandelier.

_Dammit, I'd probably be better off going in alone._

"Let's go."

The entrance to the Fire Temple was a perfect defense. A square stone chute descending deep into Death Mountain with only a single ladder down. Too far to jump, and anyone who reached the bottom would be a sitting duck for any defenders waiting at the end of the corridor that was undoubtedly at the base of the chute, ready and waiting having already been alerted to the approach of enemies by the sounds of their foot falls on the ladder echoing down to them.

_Gorons aren't exactly bow and arrow types, but there's no way there's nothing waiting for us down there. Bomb traps at the worst. Still, I can't rule out the possibility of arrows…and Zelda's little song won't get me in again. That missing guard will have told them what happened when it was played at the gate…Dammit, this is going to a real bitch._

"You two," he said, indicating a pair of dinofols. "Go and get shields from the stalfos. Get four." The dinofols saluted quickly and bounded off to fetch the shields. When they returned with the round shields Link dipped an edge of each into the lava of the volcano just long enough to melt it slightly, then quickly mashed the melted edges together to make two double-shields, which he again melted slightly the along the long sides and fused them together. Altogether he now had a four-shield wall with a hole in the center where the four round shields curved away from each other. He would cover this with his own shield. Then, climbing onto the top rungs of the ladder, he had the dinofols hang the shield wall on his back using the arm straps on the backs to the shields. Finally, he began his descent.

When he reached the base of the shaft, he quickly unhooked the shields and pulled on his own, using it to cover the hole while holding the wall up in his other hand, and waiting for the clatter of projectiles on metal. When it didn't come, he shifted his shield to look out the hole. He had been right, there was a long corridor extending from the base of the shaft, as if the whole thing had been picked up by a gigantic pair of hands and just bent into a ninety-degree angle. He had also been wrong, though. There were no defenders in sight. Instead, the walls, ceiling, and floor of the passageway were covered in little pits that flared jets of fire every few seconds.

Calling to the dinofols at the top to come down the ladder, he stared at the new task before him. It was going to be difficult, to say the least, to get his entire force to the other end without suffering casualties. The fire pits belched flame at random intervals and lengths of time, so there was no way to work out a pattern of movement. It might be doable, though; if they would just SHUT UP FOR ONE GODSDAMN SECOND.

He could see a switch at the other end of the corridor; one of the kind that was activated when stuck by something. With any luck it shut off the fire vents. Abandoning the shields and drawing his bow and knocking an arrow, he aimed and fired. The arrow never made it. It was incinerated long before it got near the switch. Link groaned angrily. Telling the dinofols to wait where they stood, he moved down the corridor. It would be tricky, but doable: the fire vents blew little jets of steam for a split second before they flared up. If he could just avoid that, he could make it.

There were a couple of close calls, but eventually he made it to the end. Activating the switch, something finally went his way and the fires all went out, allowing the dinofols to rush down the passageway to him with a speed he had never seen them put on before. The heat must really be doing wonders for them. Surveying the room they now found themselves in, he was puzzled. There still wasn't a goron in sight. There were several doors radiating off this room in different directions. He ordered different pairs of dinofols to different ones, sending at least two or three pairs to each. Except for one. At the top of the stairs and to the left, one door seemed to be calling to him, and he approached it, alone. He opened it, and stepped inside.

Beyond the door was a vast lake of lava. Tall columns of rock rose out of it, creating platforms which Link used to cross the lake to an immense door on the other side. Opening this, Link found himself atop a huge rock platform, perforated here and there by lava pits. The whole thing rose up out of another lake of lava.

And standing in the center of the platform, a large, silver warhammer in his hands, stood Darunia.

"Hello, Link," he said, his voice flat and compassionless, his face a mask of rage and sorrow. "One of my guards tells me that he heard the Royal Song, and upon opening the doors his companions were slaughtered by the Evil King's minions. Tell me, were you the one who played it?" His normally strong voice had the slight tremble of pleading in it. _Please, please, just tell me it wasn't you. Just tell me it wasn't you, tell me you're still on our side. Please, please still be on our side. _

_Sorry to disappoint you._

"It was me, Darunia. Have you not heard? Ganondorf is the Evil King, and I…I am his Dark Prince." He smiled, a cruel, mocking little smile that said it all. You are a fool. You are going to die, and I will dance upon your grave. You were a fool to hope. A fool to believe that I might still be the foolish little boy who came to you all those years ago.

Two years ago, maybe even one year ago, he couldn't have done it. He couldn't have done that to Darunia. He would have remained silent, or maybe even apologized, said he was sorry, that he didn't want to do it, but he had to. It was the way things had to be. The same speech he had given to Ruto. But not any more. Ganondorf's influence had wound far too deep into him. His heart had turning black for a long time, ever since that night when he had joined Ganondorf. And now…now it was more black than it was white, though the white still clung desperately, like a parasite, sucking away his conviction in moments like these. But not today.

Link drew his sword.

Darunia's expression flickered for a second between immense sadness and tremendous anger, before settling on its default, stern stare.

"Very well," he said, his voice once more that which Link had always associated with him; stern and humorless, but now devoid of the touch of fatherly tones that Darunia had always addressed him with before. "If that is how it is, then that is how it shall be. One of us will not leave this room alive." He hefted the great hammer in his hands, assuming a defensive posture as Link shifted his grip on his sword and flexed his arm in the leather straps of his shield. For a time neither moved a muscle, both waiting for the other to make the first move. It quickly became apparent that neither was going to do so willingly, and so it became a duel of wills, each straining their patience to their breaking points, willing the other to make the first charge.

Link's patience broke first, and he charged Darunia screaming a warcry, his sword held back, ready to slash. As he brought his blade around Darunia blocked the blow with the shaft of the great hammer, one hand at the base, one just beneath the head, and with his great strength, threw Link off-balance with a quick shove of the hammer before Link could bring his blade around again. Seizing the opportunity, the goron leader swung the hammer in a blurring arc that would have sent Link over the edge of the platform had he not rolled under the hammer in the direction the weapon had come from and, leaping back to his feet, he slashed again at Darunia. His blade bounced harmlessly off the goron's back, and Link was forced back by a flurry of punches from the goron's beefy fists, one still clutching the hammer at half shaft. Spinning in place, Darunia brought one fist around in a punch that, although he had brought his shield up to block at the last second, lifted him off his feet at sent him flying several yards into one of the little lava pools. It would have ended there were it not for Link's red tunic. Jumping back to his feet, Link leaped back once more as Darunia brought the hammer down, causing a spray of molten rock. As soon as his foot touched ground again, Link lunged forward, taking several quick stabs at Darunia's gut, each of which missed as the goron hopped back with surprising agility. Bringing the blade around in a fast spin, Link caught Darunia's cheek with the tip of the blade, drawing a thin trickle of blood as the goron rushed him and knocked Link off his feet with a powerful shoulder thrust, and brought down the hammer in his other hand with enough force to crush Link's skull had the teen not rolled aside seconds before. By the time Link was back on his feet Darunia was swinging the hammer high above his head in great circles with one hand, and advancing on him, his other hand drew back in a bunched fist. Taking a chance, Link flipped backwards and, sheathing his blade and reattaching his shield to his back as he did, he caught the edge of the platform just as he went over and, finding the side of the platform to be wrought with rocky protrusions, he swung himself down out of sight of Darunia. Peering out from beneath an outcrop, he could see Darunia peering back, not seeing him.

Thank the goddesses for the weak eyesight of the goron race.

As soon as Darunia's head had disappeared from view Link began his ascent, quickly scaling the wall and peaking over the edge to see Darunia bent over, the hammer beside him, in silent prayer, perhaps for victory, perhaps for Link to truly be dead, perhaps even that Link's spirit find peace. Link would never know, as he pulled himself over the edge and redrew his sword, making sure to scrape the blade along the side of the sheath in order to produce a sharp metallic squeal. Darunia spun around, his eyes wide with disbelief for only a fraction of a second before the hardness and rage returned. Grabbing up his hammer, it was Darunia who charged first this time, swinging at Link, who jumped aside, meaning for the goron to plummet over the side Link had just scaled, but to no avail. Darunia seemed to have sensed the feint, and had stopped short, turning on the spot to face Link once more.

But Link was in control now.

Unleashing a flurry of sword strikes on the goron, Link drew him steadily back until Darunia lunged forward, rolling into a ball, rolling past Link, rolling very quickly around the edge of the platform, and finally, sprouting spikes all along his rolling body and rolling toward Link, who only just leapt out of the way in time. He'd had no idea gorons could do that. Be that as it may, Darunia was coming around for another pass, and Link had no idea how to counter this new attack. Throwing himself out of the way at the last second once more, a desperate ploy came to him, and he lashed out with his sword, making to stab the goron's vulnerable side, only to have the surprisingly maneuverable rolling goron twist suddenly so that the sword was caught by the spikes and ripped from his grasp, then flung away. As Darunia rolled away to make another pass, Link watched the blade twirling through the air, and ran to be where it was when it came down. As he neared the edge of the platform he hesitated, glancing back over his shoulder to check on Darunia's position, turning back just in time to see the magnificent sword hit the edge and, in a shower of sparks, ricochet off the rocks and over the edge, far out of Link's reach, and tumble through the air down into the molten rock.

As it disappeared beneath the surface Link felt a great pain rush through him, originating in his chest and spreading. It felt as if his body were being electrified, as if he had come in contact with an entire colony of those jellyfish things had had faced so many years ago in the belly of Jabu-Jabu. Crying out in pain, he tried to stand with no success. As soon as the pain had come it was gone, and Link was painfully aware that Darunia was right on top of him. Throwing himself aside, he unthinkingly drew his bow and, acting purely on instinct, knocked an arrow and let fly with the same muttered string of words he had chanted on the Death Mountain Trail. The ice arrow struck the ground right where Link had lain a split-second before. Darunia, already turning sharply to aim once more at Link, hit the patch of ice skidding sideways and lost control, careening off the edge. Shutting his eyes and trying to re-inflate his lungs, Link silently prayed that Darunia had plunged to his death. His prayers were unanswered though, as he heard the angry grunts and groans of the goron as he heaved his massive bulk up the rocky wall. Struggling to his hands and knees, a glint of silver caught his eyes. Thinking it was his sword for a moment before he remembered it had fallen into the lava, he realized it to be the hammer Darunia had been wielding. He must have dropped it when he began rolling.

Crawling to it as quickly as he could, he managed to get unsteadily to his feet, and picked it up. It has far heavier than Link had expected, after seeing the goron wield it easily single-handedly, Link laughed inwardly at his own idiocy. Gorons were much stronger than humans; of course it had been easy for Darunia. For Link though, it would be nearly impossible to lift in his current state. He would do it anyway though, and hefted the great hammer onto his shoulders, his knees threatening to buckle beneath the weight.

Moving back to the edge of the platform he could see Darunia below him, scare feet between the goron and the top. Standing over the goron imposingly as he could manage, he looked down disgustedly at Darunia, who looked up at him with equal hatred in his eyes. He had stopped climbing.

"Do it then," the goron said, his voice strong and loud. "Finish me. Let me die like my ancestors: with pride!" Link stared down at him.

"Then die," he said, adjusting his grip on the hammer. "Die with all the pride you want, you'll still be dead and my father will finally dominate this land. It doesn't matter how you die, only that you do." Link's words seemed to set something off in Darunia, and his face wore an expression of the greatest loathing and rage Link had seen from him yet.

"You are no Sworn Brother of mine! Serve the Evil King and know this: you mean nothing to Ganondorf! No one means anything to that monstrosity but himself! You'll see! Someday, somewhere down the line, you'll find yourself at the end of his sword with no friends to come to your aid, and then, then you will die, alone and afraid! Finish me! Finish me and hurry off to your death, for you are no longer any Sworn Brother of mine!" Link's eyes narrowed as Darunia's ranting came to a close, and he raised the hammer into the air.

"You know, I never really understood what that meant anyway," he said, coldly, as he brought the hammer down in a mighty arc that smashed Darunia's right hand into pulp and shook the very platform itself. The vibrations of the hammer in his hands almost caused him to drop it in, and he only managed to hold on with one hand, and he watched as Darunia fell away from the wall, his hand gushing blood and his face covered in an expression of pain and sorrow, unrelated to his crushed hand.

Link lay completely still in his bed, hardly even breathing. His bed was soaked in sweat, and his body felt as if he was back inside Death Mountain. No light came through the window; the night sky was completely overcast, so he lay in the dark. After some time the sweat was mixed with tears.

He had not understood what Sworn Brothers meant all those year ago when Darunia had proclaimed them to be so, nor had he fully understood it when he had sent Darunia falling to his death hardly a year ago. But he understood it now, and with the memory of Darunia's words lingering even now as he lay awake after his nightmarish memories, he wept unabashed, praying that no one could see him.


	9. For Dreamless Sleep

**Chapter 9: For Dreamless Sleep**

"Can you make it?" Link asked, again. He was sitting in small chamber in one of the castle basements. The witch Kotake—or was it Koume? Link could never keep them straight. In either case, the one with ice powers—had her little laboratory down here. She claimed she liked the cold air of the dungeons. Whatever her reason may have been, Link didn't much care. Whichever witch he faced now was the best potion brewer he knew of, and he had great need of her.

For weeks now his sleep had been disturbed by visions of past events and fallen enemies. At first they had been sparser, coming perhaps once or twice a week. Now he was having them nightly. Sometimes twice a night. Last night had been the clincher, when he had dreamed of Darunia's death, and had woken to heaving sobs for his lost Sworn Brother.

He couldn't take that again.

The idea to consult the witch sisters had come to him early in the morning after his failure to return to sleep, and he had hurried off to see them soon after the dawn broke. He went to the ice witch first. His father had always spoken of her as the superior brewer. When he came upon her door, he had knocked and awaited her reply before entering, shivering despite himself as he had moved across the threshold of her chambers, the frigid air of the dungeons slowly numbing his limbs. Her chambers were small and dank: threadbare linens and silks hung from the dark recesses of the ceiling, and hued smoke billowed in columns from round cast iron pots on the floor. Hard cushions were scattered around a single, large cauldron that boiled an ominous acid green. Ko-whoever was looming over it like a vulture. It occurred to Link that she should have been casting a shadow, but he couldn't quite pick out the light source for the room.

"Silly child, of course I can do that! Hee hee hee… but I will need ingredients." Her speech was punctuated by her peculiar coughing laugh every few minutes, as always. It had long ago frightened Link, but that had been when he was but a stupid little boy. Today, it was merely an annoyance, like the broken speech patterns of lizalfos.

"What kind of ingredients?" he asked, suspiciously, recalling once six years ago when he had come to her seeking a healing poultice and she had sent him to the bottom of Lake Hylia for some non-existent fish for a laugh, while in actuality she had the exact potion in generous supply in a cupboard.

"Oh, nothing special, nothing special, hee hee hee. All I need is an Ullup's Toadstool. They grow in abundance in the Lost Woods. I believe you to be familiar with the area? Hee hee hee…"

Link nodded, gravely. He had not returned to Kokiri Forest, or even gone near it since the day Saria had died, years before. If this was another joke he'd have the witch's head on a pike. But for now, the promise of a dreamless sleep held enough allure to drive him back to his childhood home.

The journey didn't take long with Epona, and before the sun had even fallen to sunset Link stood outside of the entrance to Kokiri Forest. The ride here may not have taken long, but it had still left Link enough time to think through the veil of fatigue and hope that had obscured his judgment. He now hesitated, unsure as to whether or not to enter the woods.

At last, the allure of dreamless sleep once again overpowered his fear of a homecoming, and he stepped into the darkness of the Lost Woods, crossed the bridge, and stood, for the first time in seven years, in Kokiri Forest.

It was different than he remembered.

For one, he was fairly certain there hadn't been a gigantic deku baba just on the other side of the hollow tree trunk that joined the Kokiri Forest to the outside world. As soon as its severed bulb stopped twitching, Link wiped the gooey sap from his blade and took stock of his surroundings. The entirety of Kokiri Forest was filled with the giant babas and dotted with the orange and red nests of insane deku scrubs. The Kokiri were nowhere in sight.

_How could this have happened? Father promised me he would leave this place alone. Is this merely the effect of the Deku Tree's death? Should I have stayed? I could have—no. No regrets. Never any regrets. I made my choice long ago, and there is nothing to be gained by wondering what would have happened had I chosen differently._

Shifting the weight of his sword in his hand, he walked deeper into the forest, hacking apart babas as he found necessary, trying to decide his next move. He ignored his own old home and walked past Saria's, not wishing to be reminded of her anymore than this place already did. He paused outside of Mido's dwelling, however, and after splitting another baba in two, he walked inside.

Instantly, he threw himself sideways as a small barrage of deku seed slingshot bullets whizzed through the air, and was back on his feet, hand on the hilt of his weapon, before his attackers had even had a chance to reload.

There were four of them. Three were Kokiri, but one was a small Hylian child. She couldn't have been more than six years old, and stood even shorter than the Kokiri that clustered around her. There was something about her drew his attention, though he coud not place it. Mido was not among them, Link noticed. Instead, he recognized two of the know-it-all siblings and the girl Kokiri who used to sit above the entrance to the shop. The Hylian girl was clinging to the female Kokiri. Link sheathed his sword, but the Kokiris' expressions remained stonily set in masks of distrust. One of the know-it-alls spoke first.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

Link opened his mouth to answer indignantly, then hesitated, then closed his mouth and thought for a moment. Of course they didn't recognize him, the Kokiri never grew and, being unable to leave the forest, wouldn't know that the bodies of other races became larger and changed shape with time. The Kokiri had always thought that Link was one of them. _Even I thought I was back then, _Link thought. _So now, do I tell them who I am, or do I let them think I'm someone else? _

Link decided on the latter, racking his brain for an identity. A name from his schooling by Ganondorf came to him, though he couldn't remember who the name belonged to.

"My name is Hod. I'm a hunter, just passing through the forest." Moments passed in awkward silence, and the Kokiri remained defensive. Both the know-it-alls had surreptitiously slipped new deku seed bullets into their hands since he'd put his weapon away, and the shop girl had begun to inch back with the Hylian girl in tow. The Hylian girl, still clinging to the Kokiri, was peeking over her shoulder at him, and there were tears of fright in the corners of her eyes. If she was what hey were defending, his best chance at winning over the Kokiri was to win over the child.

Slowly, Link bent down on one knee, leaning forward towards the girl with his hand outstretched palm-up, the way he might present it to an unfamiliar dog. The girl still clung to the Kokiri's skirt, trying to hide behind her, but her grip on the cloth had loosened. Link noticed and was encouraged, though he again felt a strange twang of implacable recognition. He smiled at her in what he hoped was a friendly, non-threatening manner, and beckoned her over, careful not to make any sudden movements. It was not likely that the Kokiri would be able to do him any serious harm, much less actually kill him, but Link was in no mood to be fighting unless it was serious. He beckoned again to the girl, widening his smile slightly and calling softly to her.

"It's all right, come here. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help," he cooed, but it seemed to only have the opposite of the intended effect, as she now shook her head violently and clung tighter to the Kokiri girl, and the know-it-alls slipped the bullet seeds into their slingshots and leveled them at Link.

Link frowned. This wasn't going at all as expected. The monsters in the forest, the missing Mido, and now this girl who refuse to respond to him in anyway other than trying harder to hide.

The girl was beginning to shake again now, and the know-it-alls were pulling back on their slingshots. Link stood, slowly again, and began to back towards the door. He was nearly out the door when he heard the snarl of a deku baba. His eyes widened.

_Damn, I forgot how fast those things grow back._

For the next few seconds, Link was moving purely on instinct. Lunging back inside of the house just before the baba snapped its huge jaws on the spot he had been occupying, he landed in a crouch next to the Kokiri and the Hylian girls, spun on the balls of his feet, and had his hand on the hilt of his sword by the time he was standing again, and he drew it. He heard a high-pitched shriek of terror as the blade was exposed once more, but he wasn't paying attention, lunging forward again, this at the deku baba, whose head was still framed in the doorway. Link swung the sword in a high overhead arc, bringing it down to sever the stalk just behind the baba's flower-head, causing the stalk to convulse and ooze milky-white sap as the bulb flopped around in its death throes. Sap dribbled down the edge of his blade, dripping into a small pool on the floor as the adrenaline faded, leaving Link fully aware of his surroundings and the Kokiri once again. He heard crying behind him, and turned, slowly, not certain of what he was about to see.

The Hylian girl was huddled over, crying loudly, and the Kokiri girl was bent over her, clutching the girl to her, and staring at Link in wide-eyed terror. The know-it-alls moved in between Link and the girls, their slingshots drawn back. They were yelling at him, but he couldn't hear them. He wasn't there anymore. He'd remembered where he'd seen the girl before.

It was five years ago: the sack of Kakariko Village. After he'd slain the scythe-wielding man he'd wandered off to search for new targets in the burning village, the ghost of which now filled his vision. There was a woman. A young mother, huddling behind the smoking hulk of some building or another, trying to shield her daughter, begging to be spared. Link had stood a few feet away, his sword dripping the blood of the scythe man, and he had watched as a lizalfo pounced on her. He remembered her scream, the wide, terrified eyes of the little girl cowering beneath her. The lizalfo jumped away from the woman, its taloned feet tearing deep gouges in the dirt, preparing to jump again to see if the woman would make the same funny sound. Then it had been distracted by something and run off. The woman, evidently not terribly injured, stumbled to her feet, and tried to run, carrying her little daughter.

He let her get a few yards before he went after her. His orders had been clear: kill everyone. The sword demanded it of him. He gave the woman a shallow slash across the back just before she reached the torn-down remains of the village walls, causing her to collapse. She managed to turn as she fell, landing on her back so as to keep from crushing the child with her body. Then she had once again struggled to her feet and ran. Link had chased her down to the river where it ran past the village on its way to the castle. He had struck her again, and she had fallen into the water, child and all.

Link had taken her for drowned and returned to the village to kill some more.

He'd forgotten about them completely. Most of the events of that night were hazy in his memory, save for those that he had been forced to relive through his recent dreams. And now he faced the woman's little girl, who already resembled her mother. She was still crying loudly, screaming in fear. Link felt his breath catch in his throat, and his air came in ragged gasps as he stumbled backwards over his feet to get out of the house, then turned and ran.

He didn't go to the Lost Woods. He didn't get the mushroom. He just ran back to Epona and rode as fast as she would go back to the castle. Even the promise of a dreamless sleep would not make him go back and face that girl again. Even entering the Kokiri Forest was now a horrific thought.

That night he dreamed of the day he had killed Princess Ruto on the dais before her frozen father, and awoke in another pool of cold sweat.

He didn't sleep again that night.


	10. Link the Prince, the Pauper

**Chapter 10: Link; the Prince, the Pauper**

Malon hadn't seen Link since he had returned from the battle with the Lokkamaand soldiers, aside from meals, where no one spoke anyway. She remembered her sudden terror at the sight of him, covered in blood, before she remembered, first, that it wasn't his, and second, that she didn't like him anymore. Either way, his absence from her days suited her. She had more-or-less resigned herself to her fate, but still dreaded it. There was no desire in all her mind to become like that woman who sat upon the Queen's Throne, with her silent, boiling vileness; to be married to a Link who was nothing more than the shadow of Ganondorf. She shivered involuntarily at the thought. No, she was in no rush to see Link again. So when he approached her one evening, the week after the Lokkamaand battle— no, the Lokkamaand slaughter —she was crestfallen.

Something seemed different about him, something Malon couldn't quite place. It wasn't his clothes, his usual black tunic over white linen, which contrasted sharply with the elegant gown she was implicitly forced to wear. The clothes she had come in seemed to have vanished overnight when she had arrived, replaced by these. The one she wore now was the simplest of those that had been delivered to her. By the same token, it wasn't his hair, which still hung unkempt, dangling before his eyes in places, the sharp opposite to her own. The servants did it up into strange and uncomfortable weaves and braids every morning, despite her protests. No, it was nothing physical about him. In that respect, at least, he had not changed since she had known him as Fairy Boy, save for the color of his tunic. She, on the other hand, had undergone a complete transformation since she had been brought here. They even had her wearing make-up. Make-up, for gods' sakes! She was a farm girl!

He stood before her now, and spoke.

"Malon, I need you to do me a favor, if you are willing." He didn't wait for a reply. "Come. My room is this way." Malon didn't move. She was horrified; shocked into silence by the suddenness of Link's demand. She knew that eventually this had to come, but she had hoped, prayed even, that it wouldn't happen at least until after they had been married.

"Malon? Why do you hesitate? Oh, of course. Go and prepare yourself, then return here. I will need you with me all night."

_Oh gods, please don't let it last that long, _she thought, as she hurried off. Reaching her quarters, she slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it, breathing heavily and trembling. She couldn't believe it. Even after the Lokkamaand slaughter she had not entirely abandoned the hope that Link had not changed completely, but now?

Back in the hallway, Link paced, his brow furrowed in quiet fury with himself. As soon as Malon had run away from him, fled from him in fact, he had realized what his request must have seemed to her, and she had become understandably frightened. But of what? Of what he had seemed to be suggesting, or was it the thought of doing it with him? Malon had been growing distant from him ever since she had come here. Part of that had been his doing, of course. If he maintained the illusion that Malon was simply a passing interest to him, Ketume would simply pump her for information, none of which Malon possessed that could harm him, and then leave her alone and focus again on Link himself. He should have explained as much to Malon. Damned hindsight. Damned politics, for that matter. When the night was over, he would have to tell her everything. In the meantime, the thought of her flight from him still worried him.

Tonight, at least, he could put her fears to rest.

Ah, here she came now.

Malon had finally changed into the simple dressing gown that had been provided to her for just the purpose its name suggested. Over this, she had wrapped a cloak in order to preserve her dignity, or that which was left of it. She was being treated as a common concubine, or so it seemed to her. And there was Link before her. He had been pacing until her approach, but straightened up as she came up to him. She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

"Before we go, Malon, I realized while you were absent that my words may have conveyed something that I did not intend, so I wish to put your mind at ease. In asking you to my quarters tonight, I did not mean to imply…that." He blushed at the word, and refused to meet her eye. She, at least, was grateful that…that…would not come to pass tonight. However, it did then beg the question, if not…that…then what _did _he want with her at this time of night?

"Come on, let's go," he said, taking her hand and leading the way. They climbed several staircases, followed a number of long corridors, and crossed a few bridges. Ganondorf seemed very fond of bridges inside his castle, for some reason. Until finally they came to a door.

It looked no different than any other in the castle: simple dark oak, unadorned. She was slightly disappointed. Ketume's door was covered in effigies of Gerudo warriors. She had somehow imagined Link's to be covered with carvings of knights, or something of the like. Maybe this wasn't—

"Here we are then, my chambers."

—not his room.

As he opened the unexpectedly plain door, Malon couldn't stop herself from gasping. The room beyond was nothing like what she had imagined. It was so…tiny. As she stepped over the threshold she surveyed to room. There was a single, small bed, large enough for one and no more. At its foot rested an old trunk covered with peeling black…covering. There wasn't any other word for it. There was a small window overlooking the courtyard and the market far below, and beneath it sat a desk and chair, both dark with age. The desk was bare. Link's sword and shield hung from a nail driven into the back of the door. The walls were every bit as bare as the desk. There was simply…nothing here.

This was not the Prince's bedroom. It was not the chamber of the heir to the Hylian Throne. It was just the place where Link, the Link she had known as a child, slept. She looked at him. There was something different about him in this light. He looked…older, tired, haggard. As if something was weighing terribly on him.

"I should explain," he said. "Have a seat." Once she had settled herself on the chair and he had seated himself on the bedside, he tried to begin again. "Malon, I… I mean, I've been…I've done…" He faltered, unable to finish his sentence. In this room, even his speech was different, no longer the slick, charming Prince's voice, but now the same clumsy words of a young man who was more at home with a good, heavy sword than with wispy, intangible things like words. Malon waited patiently; hypnotized by this sudden change in the young man she had learned to dread. After a few deep breaths, he tried again.

"I, I've been having trouble sleeping lately, Malon. It started shortly before I brought you here. See, I've been having horrible nightmares that wake me in the middle of the night, every night, in a pool of cold sweat. And what's worse…the nightmares…they're not nightmares, so much as they're…memories." He had hung his head as he spoke. Now he raised it, looking to Malon with pleading eyes, begging her to understand. When she spoke, her voice was soft.

"But Link, what memories could you have that could be so painful?" Even as she said it, images of the Lokkamaand slaughter came unbidden to her mind's eye. Link gave one short cough of a laugh, one without humor.

"You watched when I fought the Lokkamaand soldiers, didn't you? Can you honestly tell me that the things I did that day weren't the stuff of nightmares? And I've done far worse."

His head collapsed into his hands, and Malon drew back from him, pressing herself to the back of the chair.

"Two nights ago I dreamed about Darunia of the Gorons, and my battle with him. Of all my sins, that is the one I hate myself for the most." Link was weeping openly into his hands now, his tears dribbling through his fingers and splattering on the stones of the floor. His words became broken, and stammered. "Malon, I…I, I stood over him, holding his hammer in my hands as he clung to the cliff side over a lake of lava, and, and, and I told him that I never understood what he had meant when he called me, when he, he called me his brother. Then, then I smashed his hand to pulp with his own hammer, and watched as he fell into the lake of fire! And I laughed! I laughed about it later!"

Link slid off the edge of the bed, landing on his knees of the floor, his head bent to the ground as he continued to sob.

"I'm a monster, Malon! Just my father's killing machine! I hate myself, hate what I've become! I'm even too afraid to sleep!" His body began to shudder with the force of his sobs.

Malon, unable to ignore her urge to comfort Link, fell to her knees beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. After a few minutes of this, he stopped shaking. Helping him back to the bed, she laid him back and covered him with the quilt. After a moment's consideration, she sat on the edge, near the head of the bed, and pulled him into a sitting position so that his head rested on her shoulder, and wrapped an arm around his back, holding him to her.

For several minutes more Link cried silently, muttering quiet apologies under his breath before he quieted and fell asleep. After a little longer, Malon pulled her legs up into the bed to make herself more comfortable. A little after that, she fell asleep, too.

Sometime during the night, Link woke up once, took a groggy look at Malon, then returned to a blissfully dreamless sleep.


End file.
